Thanks God I didn’t miss that train, because being a wedding planner was written in my destiny!
After graduating in Art, Photography and Design I spent a couple of years travelling around Europe with the purpose of discovering the beauties of our old continent and deepening my studies. This included a long stop in the lovely city of London where I lived for more than one year. When I came back home it was 1995, I was a young lady with lots of creativity and dreams, I was looking for the perfect job, not a profession that makes you earn some money but a way to turn my passion and devotion into a job! I was wondering how to find the perfect occupation where I could incorporate my artistic skills, my creativity, curiosity, knowledge of foreign languages and the enormous love I have for my country and gastronomy…
Laura Frappa - supervising an event at the Hotel Cipriani, Venice
Laura Frappa in St. Mark's Square in Venice
It happened during one of my numerous trips coming back from Rome, that train I took changed my life completely!
Two American ladies seating in front of me couldn’t understand what the ticket collector was asking them, so I decided to help them and acted as an interpreter, translating what that man was saying. From that moment on we started talking about different subjects, they were visiting Italy as tourists and their next destination was Udine, where a friend of them was living. What a coincidence!!! I told them that I was from that region too. They became curious and wanted to know something more about me. I told them that after graduating, travelling around Europe and taking some courses on tourism I was looking for a job. They told me that they had a friend living close to my town who was looking for an assistant and that maybe I was the person she was looking for. Oh Yes! I was the Right Person! They gave me her business card and before saying goodbye they told me “Laura, don’t forget to call her!!!”.
I called her a couple of days later and set-up an appointment for an interview. This distinctive American lady explained to me that she was running a company specialized in customized honeymoons and tours and she needed someone exactly like me, full of enthusiasm, charisma and good taste especially, someone who would help her in dealing with her clients. Needless to say that the day after I was working next to her desk!
- Walking with a bride and groom in Ravello, Amalfi Coast
I learned a lot thanks to that experience. Creating personalized tours for sophisticated clients is quite a challenging task. It was right among those difficult requests that some couples started asking me to organize not just their honeymoons but their wedding ceremonies in Italy too! Where to start when in Italy no one had the idea of what a “Wedding planner” was? The first step to be done was a very extensive search and site inspection to find out the best venues available in our country. I travelled extensively throughout Italy for about 3 months and visited about 200 venues. I started with Venice then Tuscany and Rome, to continue my search in the Amalfi Coast, Capri and the Italian Riviera. I had a note-book with me where I wrote down every single peculiarity of the town halls visited as well as churches, villas and castles, top class restaurant and so on. What a hard job! It was hard but worthwhile doing. When I came back to my office I had so many exciting locations to recommend, but that was also the beginning of the hardest part of my task: I had to explain to several registry offices the right procedures to allow a foreigner to get marry in Italy, an exhausting job! I am talking about certain destinations that nowadays have become very popular and requested, but you have to know that in 1995 they had no idea about what a destination wedding was: POSITANO, RAVELLO, LAKE ORTA, PORTOVENERE, some popular villages in TUSCANY…
Laura Frappa on a site inspection trip in Tuscany
In just 3 years destination weddings inItaly became a very popular desire and I ended up planning over 50 weddings a year. Though I was really grateful to that American lady for introducing me the world of customized “creations”, I felt that her points of view and ways of dealing with clients were too much ordinary for me and that I had too much experience with weddings to be just a simple assistant.
- Laura Frappa coordinating a wedding
In 1999 I founded a travel agency together with a close friend of mine and thanks to my extensive know-how in destination weddings I could teach him and our staff many precious secrets about this business. During 4 wonderful years together in this business we learned very much from each other but there was a time when we both agreed that taking our own ways was the best thing to do to unconditionally express our skills, follow our ambitions and reach our goals separately. If someone asked me now to narrow down a list of the most serious wedding planners in Italy, I would definitely mention them.
- Cathy and Larry, memories of my weddings
- EIW, Home page version in 2004
The work behind the scenes was not just creating the right ”façade” for my company, but also selecting a net of finest and trusted providers able to satisfy the high-standard of services I wanted to offer to my future clients. Nothing is left to the fate, all the events I create are studied to reflect the couple’s personality and their tastes!
Studying wedding details...
- Laura and her collegues
My wonderful staff
- Fun at work
Thank you moments during a wedding
Supervising a civil wedding in Venice
Many venues recommend my company to couples looking for an experienced wedding planner. The reason why they recommend my services is simply because they know that when a couple plan a wedding with EIW they are in the hands of one of the most experienced and talented wedding planners in Italy. This because we give an outstanding service, we treat the couple like Royalty and because we enjoy and love what we do! Yes, I adore what I do, and so do my staff! I am so lucky to be surrounded by marvelous people who work with so much passion and enthusiasm. We are like a family.
The passion for my job and my perseverance was clearly showed to all the people I worked with when in April 2008 I gave birth to my first child (well the second I would say, after EIW). Annamaria came into this world after a wonderful pregnancy and a winter dedicated to finalize many luxurious events! I planned weddings until the last day of pregnancy! And 5 days after her birth I was seating in front of my laptop again! I had a big wedding the month after! So back at work, obviously from home, but sooo happy with my little girl and my wonderful job. Today, I have two wonderful daughters and this is how the living room of my house looks like on a Sunday morning! My eldest daughter is so curious about my profession… when I play videos of the weddings I create she is very fascinated by the “lady dressed in white”. Maybe she is a future event planner, who knows!
My little girls next to my laptop!
I guess that you may be also wondering if I am married! Yes, also wedding planners find the time to get married, but believe me, planning my own wedding was one of the most challenging experiences of my life cause I decided to get married in the full wedding planning season! Yes, I wanted a wonderful sunny day like every bride deserves so I decided to do it in June! The busiest month of the year. Crazy idea, yes, you are right! I got married in June 2010 with a wonderful jazz musician I met while I was coordinating a wedding in Southern Italy.
On my wedding day
On my wedding day after ceremony
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Hotel Cipriani, Venezia
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Villa S. Michele, Firenze
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Hotel Splendido, Portofino
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Hotel Caruso, Ravello
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Hotel Villa Cimbrone, Ravello
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Hotel Sirenuse, Positano
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Hotel Capri Palace, Capri
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Hotel De Russie, Roma
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Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, Sorrento
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Hotel Hassler, Roma
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Castello di Vincigliata, Fiesole
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Palazzo Pisani Moretta, Venezia
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Palazzo Contarini, Venezia
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Hotel Bauer, Venezia
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Villa La Vedetta, Firenze
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Palazzo Brancaccio, Roma
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Castello Odescalchi, Roma
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Villa Gallici Deciani, Friuli
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Castello di Spaltenna, Tuscany
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Castello di Meleto, Tuscany
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Villa Mangiacane, Tuscany
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Hotel S. Caterina, Amalfi
And many other fabulous events in less known but equally beautiful venues throughout Italy. Large events but also small ones…
Wedding banquet in a Medieval Italian Castle
Preparation of a celebrity wedding in a Venetian Palace
Unique Wedding banquet
Wonderful outdoor reception
Tuscany Fairytale wedding
Castle Romance in Chianti
Venetian wedding banquet
Castle wedding in Tuscany
Luxury event at the Hotel Cipriani
Spectacular Villa wedding near Florence
Wonderful reception in the Lake District
Wedding reception in Palazzo in Venice
Intimate wedding banquet
Unique charm of an outdoor terrace dinner
Italian wedding traditions for a magical wedding
Spectacular setting for an outdoor ceremony
A luxury wedding elopement
Special care and attention to details
Customized wedding details
Pastel colors and my beloved candles!
Country wedding Romance
Spectacular Jewish Ceremony in Venice
The charm of an intimate wedding
Passion for historical and panoramic venues
The images contained in this page are just some of the numerous pictures we have in the archive of my company! I hope that you enjoyed reading something more about who I am and how much I LOVE being an event planner, an Italian wedding planner that every day struggles to create unique and unforgettable memories for all couples choosing to plan their wedding in Italy with my agency… but at the same time being a loving mother, a careful wife, a lucky woman with a wonderful life. I thank God for the wonderful gift of allowing me to wake-up happy, healthy and say hello to a new day with a happy smile on my face.
With love,
Laura